forces. >> why start in kobani?lace we noticed someone's fighting back, and it was the people of kobani. >> what kind of partners did you find them to be? >> committed. dedicated. formidable. >> what started in kobani quickly expanded. the first batch of 50 american advisers sent in to help the kurds soon grew to 2,000. the u.s. military trusted their allies so completely that the kurds were soon calling in american air strikes. the kurds not only did what they promised. they were willing to fight and die. >> coalition losses to combat in syria is two. >> two? >> two. >> two american soldiers in uniform have died? >> one coalition, one u.s. two. they have lost thousands. >> what kind of toll did they inflict on isis? >> it's in the tens of thousands of isis killed. >> for the allies, kobani was a turning point. >> every morning i would come in and i would be looking at a map in my briefing. i could see where isis colors had been taking over that map, suddenly it's moving in the other direction. that was so important

government said kobani wasn't worth safing. >> what is happening in kobani, as w you have to understand. >> but the people had their own objectives. they stood their ground and fought. i wanted to get inside to see if the resistance had a chance. i left the safety of turkey and sprinted across no man's land. fire fights were underway. isis had already captured more than half the town. the people of kobani were trying to hang on to what they had left. these brave resistance fighters were ethnic kurds, a minority group of millions in the middle east striving for independence for centuries. they organized into a ma liliti proudly feminist with men and women sharing power equally and fighting shoulder to shoulder. a field commander led us to city hall. the only safe way she knew was going in through holes in the walls to avoid the snipers. she says there were about 40 isis fighters just in these rooms here. but thaer fighting room to room. you can see some of the damage. you can see the bullet holes. this was real close quarter fighting. >> she shows us where the enemy is, not far. we watch